


All the Pinks in the Rainbow

by brightlikeloulou



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Cuddling & Snuggling, First Meetings, M/M, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmate Bond, making up this soulmate stuff as I go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-09-17 08:54:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16971588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brightlikeloulou/pseuds/brightlikeloulou
Summary: Daryl Dixon was born with his soul mark splashed across three of the knuckles on his right hand. Most of the black mark was below the second knuckle, but some spilled towards the tips of his fingers, and over his first knuckles and onto the back of his hand.Daryl had never had feelings for a man before, for a long time, he was too scarred from his father to even get close to people in a platonic way, let alone a romantic way. He had known he was gay for a long time, and eventually, he was okay with it, but he still couldn't bring himself to put himself out there. He wondered about his soulmate too, because though people were able to fall in love with people that weren't their soulmate, he had heard stories of how wonderful it was to find your soulmate.It was a different time, a different world, when the black stain on Daryl's knuckles, changed to color.-----Or, the soulmate AU where everyone is born with a black soul mark on their body in the place where they first touch their soulmate, and once they do, it turns to color.





	1. From Black to Pink

**Author's Note:**

> A new fun multi-chapter fic!
> 
> \- 
> 
> The dialogue right up until Rick and Daryl get into the truck is word for word from the show, I don’t take credit. All of the dialogue after that, is mine.

Daryl and Rick carefully crept through the trees and towards the road where the man who had just stolen their truck was. The two men stopped a few meters back from the tree line and observed the man, he had parked the truck and was apparently checking the supplies in the back.

Daryl had had a funny feeling in his gut ever since he had first laid eyes on the man that called himself Jesus, and he didn't know why. Sure, when the man pulled his bandana down and revealed that he was gorgeous, that had got Daryl's attention. But that didn't explain the butterflies that seemed intent on staying in his stomach or the fact that he felt strangely pulled towards him.

And he shouldn't, he shouldn't because they had no idea who the guy was, if he was good or bad, or just how dangerous he was. He was a thief, they knew that much.

Rick and Daryl nodded at each other, and moved a little closer to the road, Rick snuck out of the trees, and around the front of the truck and Daryl watched him disappear around the other side. Daryl walked until he was stood right at the tree line and waited until he saw Rick jump out from the side and wrap his arms around Jesus' chest until he stepped out.

He was taken by surprise when Jesus shoved his elbow into Rick's ribs, and then spun himself out of the man's grip, and delivered a kick to his stomach before spinning around again. Daryl growled as Rick groaned and stumbled to the ground because Rick was family and he didn't like seeing family hurt.

Both Daryl and Jesus approached one another quickly, Daryl had his arm raised to deliver a punch, and as he threw it, Jesus brought his own arms up to block it. Instead of the man's face like he had hoped, his fist connected with the man's forearm, but he still felt pleased with the tiny grunt of pain Jesus let out. Daryl was about to try again, but Jesus' hands landed on his hips and spun him with surprising and impressive strength.

Daryl gasped when his back connected with the truck, and he felt the wind almost be knocked out of him.

A few moments later, Rick was back on his feet and tackled Jesus to the ground. Daryl immediately went after them, and came to a stop by Jesus' feet, once again pulling out his gun and pointing it at Jesus' head. Rick scrambled to his feet beside him and pulled out his gun too when he was back on his feet.

Jesus blinked up at them, an unreadable expression on his face as he propped himself up on his elbows, Daryl once again tried to ignore the fluttering in his stomach as his eyes connected with the other man's.

"Do you even have any ammo?" Jesus asked, quirking a brow at them.

Daryl and Rick looked at each other, and then changed the angle of their guns and shot at the walker that had emerged from the trees.

"Okay," Jesus said, and gestured with his hands, "You're gonna shoot me over a truck?" He asked, and it almost annoyed Daryl that the man sounded like he was bored and not at all feeling scared or nervous, which surely wasn't normal as he had two guns pointed and his ridiculously attractive face.

"There's a lot of food on that truck. The keys now," Rick replied, voice full of irritation, and he waved the gun slightly.

"I think you know I'm not a bad guy," He replied and made no move to reach for the keys.

"Yeah? What do you know about us? Give me the keys, this is the last time I'm asking," Rick said, and Daryl remained quiet as he usually did, but he couldn't tear his eyes from the man's face.

Jesus looked over and met Daryl's gaze, and Daryl hoped he wasn't fucking blushing. He was pissed at himself, he didn't understand what the fuck was wrong with him, he didn't act like this.

Jesus sighed, and then dug into his pocket, pulled out the keys and threw them in Rick's direction. Rick fumbled to catch them and glared at the smirk the man wore on his face.

They tied him up after that, and Jesus smirked the entire time, didn't take his eyes off them.

"You're really gonna leave me here like this? You're really going to do that?" Jesus spoke, and once again, he didn't have an ounce of fear in his voice, and that stupid smirk remained on his face.

"The knots aren't that tight, you should be able to get free after we're long gone," Rick told him and finished his work with the ropes.

"Maybe we should talk now," Jesus offered, and lifted his head to watch Rick walk away, and then moved his eyes to Daryl when he approached him.

Daryl grabbed one of his soda cans, childishly shook it, and then threw it at the man. "Here, in case you get thirsty," He said and then began to walk to the passenger side of the truck. He scowled when he heard Jesus laugh.

Both Rick and Daryl climbed into the truck and slammed the doors closed behind them. They shared a look, and Rick spun the keys around his finger. Daryl huffed a laugh and reached into the pack in his lap and wrapped his fingers around the soda can that remained inside. He pulled it out and sat it in the cup holder in between him and Rick with his right hand as his other was scratching the back of his neck.

He didn't notice that Rick had watched him do so, "Daryl," Rick said quietly, his tone of voice was full of disbelief, and Daryl furrowed his brows and looked over at him.

"What?" He grunted and raised his brows at the younger man even though he was focused on Daryl's hand.

Rick looked up at him for a moment, "Your mark," He said and then nodded towards Daryl's hand, that he had now sat back on top of the backpack.

Daryl was overcome with confusion, and he looked down at his hand as Rick had told him to do.

Daryl's eyes widened as he took in the new sight of his hand, and his throat went completely dry. His soul mark, which had been pitch black for the last forty years, was no longer that. The black mark had turned into an array of pinks. There had to have been hundreds of different shades of pink that were all swirled together. It was pretty, beautiful even.

Then it actually hit him, he had just found his soulmate. He had just tied him up and had been planning on leaving him on the side of the road.

That explained why he had been feeling so strange towards the other man since he had seen him. Even before soulmates touched, if they were close enough, they would already feel the bond drawing them towards each other.

Daryl gaped at his knuckles for several seconds, and then he turned to look at Rick, and the man looked right back at him with a look of shock on his face.

Daryl was just about to speak, when the man they had left tied up outside, his soulmate, beat him to it.

"Hey!" Jesus yelled from outside, his voice sounded desperate, "Daryl, look at your knuckles!"

Daryl blinked, and looked at Rick nervously, he felt like his heart was going to pound out of his chest.

Rick reached out, and place a hand on Daryl's cheek, and it was so intimate and immediately calmed Daryl a little. "Hey, 's okay," Rick whispered and reached out to the door handle with his other hand. "You stay here and take some deep breaths, I'll go get him," He said, petted Daryl's cheek, and then he climbed out of the car.

Though still rooted in a state of shock, he heard the two men outside talking, but he couldn't make out what. After several minutes passed, he heard the back door of the truck being pushed up, followed by the sound of footsteps climbing into it before the door was pushed down again and locked.

It made sense that Rick would have put him back there instead of in the front with them. For starters, Daryl was on the verge of a panic attack. They also still didn't know if the man was a bad guy or not, and if he did turn out to be a bad guy, he wasn't able to get out of the truck as it locked from the outside, and he wouldn't be able to see how they got to Alexandria.

Rick appeared back in the truck just a few moments later and started it up, he looked over at Daryl, "He's being understanding," Rick told him, and then began to drive.

Daryl managed to nod but still hadn't been able to tear his eyes away from the swirls of pink on his knuckles.


	2. Breathing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Making up this soulmate stuff as I go btw

As soon as they arrived back at Alexandria, Daryl grasped desperately for the door handle and shoved it open once his fingers found purchase on it.

He stumbled out of the truck, and Rick quickly followed behind him. When Daryl started nervously pacing, Rick placed two hands on his shoulders and turned him around to face him.

Daryl looked into the man's blue eyes and licked his lips nervously. "Rick," he said softly, unsure of what else to say.

"You go back to the house, try and calm down, yeah? I'll get him sorted and get a couple of people on watch duty to make sure he doesn't try anything. Once you've had some time to think, you can decide if you want to go see him," Rick said to him softly, gave his shoulder a squeeze and then pushed him encouragingly in the direction of the house that Daryl shared with him, Michonne, Carl and Judith.

Daryl did as Rick said and headed to the house.

Once he reached the house, he was glad to see that Michonne and the kids weren't there because he couldn't deal with talking to them at that moment.

He quickly made his way through the house and into his bedroom in the attic, he spent ten minutes pacing before he dropped face down onto his bed. He didn't know if it could even be called a bed; it was just a mattress on the floor that was covered in blankets.

He spent several minutes taking deep breaths and trying to calm himself down. His body felt wrong, he felt jittery and uncomfortable, like something was crawling under his skin almost.

Daryl had spent almost the entirety of his teen years fantasizing about who his soulmate was, where their soul mark was, what color the black stain on both of their bodies would turn to when they touched for the first time. He now knew the answers to those question.

He was around sixteen when he came to the realisation that he was gay, and that was when he stopped wondering. Where he grew up, and who he grew up around, it wasn't an option for him to be gay. He knew that if he had come out, he wouldn't have made it to meeting his soulmate. His father would have killed him and buried him somewhere in the woods, and he would have claimed that Daryl had run away, and nobody would have cared enough to look into it.

It was a few minutes later when he heard the soft knock on the door, knowing that it would only be Rick or Carol, he grunted his approval for the person to come inside. The door pushed open quietly, and the heavy sound of boots on the wooden floor let him know it was the former.

"Hey," Rick said softly, and then sat himself down on the bed beside him.

"Hey," Daryl grunted back, and took one more deep breath and rolled himself onto his back, and then sat up, "How is he?" He asked quietly, unable to stop his curiosity.

"He's complying, didn't complain about being locked in the spare house and being guarded. He's still a pain in the ass, sarcasm, and smartass wise, but other than that, he doesn't appear to be lying about not being a bad guy," Rick replied, and Daryl believed him because Rick had never lied to him before. "He's uncomfortable though, antsy, squirmy,"

Daryl furrowed his brows at that, "I feel the same, thought it was a nervous thing. Guessin' now it's to do with soulmates?" He asked quietly, fiddling with his fingers and trying to ignore the unpleasant feeling that crawled up his back.

He felt stupid for asking such a question. He was forty years old, he was supposed to know that kind of shit. But his parents were soulmates, but never acted like it, his father never treated his mother right. The only indication that that's what they were was the orange swirls over his mother's hip and his father's palm.

Most of what else he knew of soulmates, came after the end of the world. He watched Glenn and Maggie, Rick and Michonne, Aaron and Eric.

Rick nodded and shifted to get himself more comfortable. "Yes, it's a soulmate thing. Your bodies are reacting that way because the two of you have touched, but you haven't established the bond. It's like instinct, you know? You want to be around each other, it feels wrong not to be. Especially at these early stages, once the bond is established, it gets easier,"

Daryl swallowed thickly, and felt that swirl of nerves in his stomach again, "Establishing a bond, you gotta fuck for that?" He eventually spat out, because he was curious.

Rick smiled at him, "No. Soulmates don't ever have to have sex if they don't want to. Having sex would establish the bond faster, but it is not necessary. Bonds are made by touching, sexual or not, and simply talking really, hearing each other's voice,"

Daryl nodded when Rick finished, "Okay," His cheeks were flushed at the embarrassing nature of the conversation, at least that's what it was to him, but he was glad to have Rick there with him. He had always found comfort in the other man's presence, was the kind of brother that he hadn't had.

Rick was quiet for a moment, "Did you know?" He asked quietly, and when Daryl squinted at him, said, "That it was going to be a man?"

Daryl sighed and nodded before running a hand over his face, "Yeah. Since I was 'bout sixteen, that was when I stopped wonderin' 'bout him,"

Rick looked at him in a way that Daryl couldn't identify, "You know it's okay, though?" He said almost awkwardly.

Daryl snorted at that, "Have you ever seen me have a problem with Aaron and Eric or Tara?" He said smartly.

"Being okay with yourself and being okay with others is different. Hell, I ignored my bisexuality right up until Michonne helped me be okay with it,"

Daryl raised a brow at that, "Didn't know you were bi," He said, feeling fondness and pride for the other man for coming out to him.

"Well, only Michonne and Carl know. I hadn't even meant to tell him, he heard me talking to 'Chonne about it, came up to me one night, told me he loved me and that he didn't care if I liked guys too," Rick said, a smile on his face as he remembered the memory.

Daryl's own lips twitched with it, and he was quiet for several long moments. "Like you, I ignored it I guess. How I was raised, what my dad was like, it wasn't an option. He died about a month before the world went to shit, and when it did, wasn't exactly the first thing on my mind, only started thinking about it recently,"

Rick nodded in understanding at that, "Well, it's a different time now, you're around different people,"

Daryl took the words in and didn't say anything for a while. He guessed it was true, he wasn't a scared kid anymore haunted by his father's power over him. He had an adopted family that loved him. He found himself thinking about the long-haired man that turned out to be his soulmate, he wondered what it would be like.

He looked up at Rick again, "He seemed okay?" He asked softly.

Rick smiled at him, reached out and placed his hand on his knee, "Yeah he did. He asked about you, said he'd like to see you when you were ready,"

Daryl sighed heavily and then stood up from the bed. "I'm gonna go now," He said, and held out a hand to help pull Rick out, and then the two of them left his bedroom.

 

* * *

 

Daryl walked into the quiet house, with his heart thumping. Abraham was on watch on the bottom floor, and Daryl shooed him away, along with Sasha who he found on the second floor sat by the master bedroom door. Her gun was heard firmly in her hand. He also told her to collect whoever else was in the house keeping guard, and that if they really wanted to, they could stay outside, but he wanted some form of privacy.

Daryl himself had a gun tucked into his pants. Jesus' weapons, (an impressive amount of knives) had been taken from him, but he had made it clear that he could defend himself perfectly well without them.

Daryl spent a few minutes outside taking deep breaths before he pushed the bedroom door open and stepped inside.

The light was on, and his eyes immediately settled onto the man that was sitting on the bed. He had his boots off and by the end of the bed, and his trench coat was folded over the chair on the corner of the room.

Upon hearing the door open, Jesus looked up from where he had his eyes locked on his soul mark on his forearm and was tracing his still gloved fingers over it.

Daryl felt his stomach flutter when Jesus' plump lips spread in a wide smile, and his blue-green eyes settled on him. "You know, I've been locked up in a few places before, but I think this is the nicest so far," He said after a few moments, and motioned at the bedroom around him.

Daryl felt his lips twitch, "Yeah, five whole stars," He grunted and shifted awkwardly on his feet.

Jesus laughed and pushed some hair back from his face. Daryl flushed , and he looked down at his hands when the man looked at him intently for a few moments, "Are you okay?" Jesus eventually asked, his voice gentle and calm.

Daryl understood what Rick meant earlier, the twitchiness and feeling like something was crawling under his skin, was already calming down a little now that he was near Paul and that he could hear the man's voice.

Daryl sighed heavily, and then looked up and met the man's eyes, "Yeah," He replied softly, and Paul smiled at him again when Daryl moved to sit on the edge of the bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will continue from where this one left off, don't worry.
> 
> —
> 
> Bi Rick is just a little idea I like, and I thought it would be cool to mention it in this fic. Sorry if that ain’t your thing.


	3. Gentle Touches

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter starts right where the other one left off.

After sitting himself down, Daryl immediately began fiddling with the covers, unsure as to what else to do.

He kept his eyes on his hand and the pale blue material of the duvet, he instincts were telling him to get closer to Jesus, so much closer, but the part of his brain that was filled with anxiety, still made him second guess.

“Well, the first thing I should probably ask is if you’re single. If you’re not then I’ll back off, or even if you are, but you don’t want anything from me, I’ll back off,” Jesus said to him, his voice gentle.

Daryl looked up at the man, found him looking right back at him with a soft smile.

“Ain’t got no one, and I ain’t opposed to being with you, I just...” He trailed off, looking back down again.

“You’re just a little nervous? Still in shock?” Jesus offered.

Daryl nodded and felt his gut do a weird swirl again because Jesus’ voice sounded like honey and he wished he could somehow bathe in it.

“I guess,”

“Well we don’t have to rush anything, establish the bond slowly, just talking will do that,”

“Rick told me that,”

He looked up again, found Jesus looking at him curiously again, “Do you know a lot about soulmates?”

Daryl shrugged, “Kinda from observation more than anything. My parents were, but they didn’t act like it, and I was young when my momma died. There wasn’t long to observe. After that, it was just people I’d see around, didn’t really make friends until after the outbreak I guess,”

He could see that Jesus was listening to everything he said, that made him feel a little fuzzy, that he had the man’s entire attention on him.

“There are other soulmates in your group?”

“Yeah, there’s Rick and Michonne, Glenn and Maggie, and Aaron and Eric,” Daryl replied, wondering what his friends would think of him now having a soulmate.

“And here I was thinking I was the last gay at the end of the world,” Jesus said with a playful grin, “But it looks like there are at least two others,”

“Three,” Daryl said, seeing no reason not to tell Jesus that he was also gay, he was finding himself strangely comfortable, “Got Tara and Denise too, but they ain’t soulmates, still pretty damn in love though,”

Paul smiled at him, “So you knew that you were gay before you saw that I was your soulmate?” He asked, and sat up a little more on the bed.

Daryl finally looked at the man long enough to notice that he was acting just how Daryl felt, he was squirmy and jittery. Daryl licked his lips nervously, thought it over for a few moments and then stretched his leg out so that his calf pressed again Jesus’.

Jesus smiled even wider at him, and pressed his leg back against the contact, clearly enjoying it.

Remembering Jesus’ earlier question, “Yeah I knew I was gay since I was about sixteen I think,”

Paul nodded, and relaxed back against the headboard of the bed, he stretched his other leg out and pressed his foot against Daryl’s ankle.

The pressure and warmth of the contact, had Daryl wanting to crawl over and lay himself down on the other man and just snuggle into his neck. That was the first time he had ever had any kind of thought like that, it didn’t scare him by any means, more like it made him curious as to what else his soulmate could make him feel.

“I think I was about ten when I realised, give or take a few years,” Jesus told him, Daryl watched the man’s long fingers as they pushed some hair back from his face and behind his ear. Daryl craved the feeling of it below his fingers, “I didn’t tell anyone for years though. I grew up in a group home. Dodgy ones if you know what I mean, was safer to stay in the closest,”

“I get that. I grew up in the south of Georgia, in a tiny as fuck town, being gay wasn’t an option,”

Daryl was surprised with how quickly he was sharing things about himself, and how much his body was crawling with the need to get closer to the man that sat in front of him.

Jesus seemed to notice, and he quirked a brow at him and smiled sweetly, “You can come up here if you’d like, we’d both be more comfortable,” He offered.

Daryl thought it over for several moments, thinking that no, he should stay down here, but the small amount of leg contact they had was not enough, and the crawling in Daryl’s body was almost unbearable. While taking a deep breath that he hoped was subtle, Daryl moved up the bed until he was sat beside Jesus, their sides pressed together, and Daryl laid a little further down the bed so that his head was against Jesus’ shoulder. The crawling in his body slowly seemed to calm.

Jesus let him settle, and then lifted his arm to wrap it around Daryl’s shoulders. He sighed pleasantly, and the sound almost made Daryl shudder.

“Oh, this is so much better,” Jesus said, and there was a shifting of the man’s hand that Daryl realised was him taking his glove off, and then Daryl felt gentle fingers tracing patterns along his bicep. “This okay?” Jesus asked after a few moments, tilting his head to look at him.

Daryl nodded immediately, and closed his eyes in relaxation, “It’s nice, feels nice,”

He heard Jesus hum, “It does, didn’t feel right when we weren’t touching. It’s only like that for a couple of days, once the bond is formed, it’s different. If you want it to be established that is,”

“I think I do,” Daryl said softly, sighed happily when the fingers drawing patterns on his arm turned to an entire palm rubbing up and down, “Just going to need to get used to it,”

Jesus chuckled softly, and Daryl almost jumped when he felt the man press his lips against his temple. “I think I’ll be the same, it’s a pretty big thing. I mean, the chances of you being alive, and me finding you, were pretty slim, I didn’t expect for it to happen,”

“Man, I only just started thinking about my soulmate a few months ago, wondering, you know? If you were alive,”

“I guess the world decided to be nice to us for once then,”

Daryl smiled at that, and shifted a little closer to the man, no longer caring, he was too wrapped up in how Jesus’ voice sounded, and how good his warm body felt against his. He wondered what it would be like to lay next to him while they were naked, to be able to feel him completely.

With that thought in his head, he felt his eyes grow heavy, and he knew that he could easily fall asleep. He didn’t know if that was due to him having such a long and eventful day, or if this was what happened when establishing a bond.

“Go to sleep,” Jesus said softly, and stroked his arm, “We can talk more in the morning,”

Daryl grunted softly, and logically, he knew he shouldn’t, that though he seemed it, Jesus may not be a good guy.

“You try anything, my people will kill you,” He warned.

“I won’t, promise,” Jesus replied, sounding like he was seconds away from falling asleep himself. That made Daryl think it was a soulmate thing, he made a mental note to remember to ask Rick about it before he fell into unconsciousness.


	4. Strawberry and Lemon

Daryl woke up slowly, the fuzziness leaving his mind and the blurriness leaving his eyes as he slowly slipped out into consciousness.

The first thing that he noticed was that he felt amazing. He felt relaxed, calm, sleepy, peaceful, all at once. He could smell something pleasant, faintly of strawberries and lemon, and he inhaled deeply, craving more.

He shifted and realized that his head was pillowed against something firm. He finally found the energy to lift his head after a few moments, and he was met with the sight of his soulmate, that he had momentarily forgotten about.

He couldn't help his lips from twitching in a smile as he looked at the man. His head was lolled to the side, and his he had a peaceful look spread over his features. Long brown hair fell down his shoulders, and Daryl wondered if that was the source of the scent he had woken up to. He decided to test the theory, and he shifted so he could press his nose against Jesus' hair.

Inhaling deeply, he was met with the strawberry and lemon scent, even stronger and he suppressed a quiet groan. He moved up Jesus' body a little more so he could rest his head against the man's shoulder and continue to smell the man's hair.

He had never done anything like that in his life, and maybe he should have been a little concerned about how easily he did it, that he didn't care he was doing it, and that he didn't want to stop doing it, but he wasn't. He couldn't bring himself to care about anything past how good Jesus' hair smelt, and how nice it felt to have woken up pressed against his warm body.

All the sniffing must have finally woke Jesus, as his voice was suddenly cutting through the air.

"Enjoying yourself there?" He asked, his voice was thick with sleep, but it also sounded playful and something like fond.

Daryl felt his cheeks flush, and he shyly lifted his head to be able to look at Paul, he felt his stomach swirl with happy butterflies when his eyes met the man's beautiful blue-green ones.

"Smells good," He said.

Jesus smiled at him, and Daryl felt the arm that had lazily been around his shoulders, beginning rubbing back and forth, and though there was the material of Daryl's shirt between their skin, it still felt nice. Daryl knew that to set the bond properly, there had to be at some skin on skin contact, and they hadn't done much of that.

"Would be my shampoo," Jesus told him, "What time is it?" He added after a few moments, craning his head to look at the window on the other side of the room.

"Still dark," Daryl said.

"I can see that genius," Jesus snorted, smirking at him and Daryl rolled his eyes.

He rolled off Jesus' body, smiled a little at the man's groan of annoyance and reached into the nightstand where he's pretty sure a watch of some sort he had left there a few months ago was.

Sure enough, his fingers found purchase on the little wristwatch, and he pulled it out of the drawer. He rolled back over to lay against Jesus' body as he checked the time, "It's nearly four-thirty," Daryl told the other man, and then tossed the watch down onto the bed, he then proceeded to snuggle into Jesus body again.

"Someone's cuddly," Jesus said, and then shifted so he could completely wrap both of his arms around Daryl, slipping a leg between the man's and pulling him close.

"Never done it, feels nice," Daryl replied, his voice muffled from where he had his face pressed against Jesus' collarbones.

"You've never cuddled before?" Jesus asked.

"Nope,"

"Wow. I mean, I could see that you were inexperienced, but that's a lot,"

Daryl frowned and shifted back so he could look at the man, "That bother you?" He asked, almost nervously.

Jesus immediately shook his head, "Of course not, I was just thinking out loud," He said, and lifted one of his hands to thread his fingers through Daryl's hair.

Daryl sighed softly at the touch and relaxed again.

They stayed curled up against each other in the bed for the next hour, and they didn't speak, just laid together.

Daryl had slowly woken up more and became little uncomfortable at the constant contact, even though it felt so good. The loud grumbling of Jesus' stomach gave him an excuse, and he moved away from his body and stood up from the bed.

"Come on, let's go get something to eat," He said and made his way to the door, turning his back to Jesus, he suddenly remembered the gun he had tucked into the back of his pants. He quickly spun around, as if he could have covered it.

Jesus quirked a brow at him from where he was standing up from the bed, "Relax, I've known it was there as soon as you laid down on me," He said.

"Was just a precaution," Daryl said, lifting his hand to chew at his thumbnail.

Jesus' lips quirked in a small smile, and he walked past him out the door, "I get it, Daryl, don't worry,"

Daryl followed him, and the two of them made their way downstairs and through the house to the kitchen.

Daryl furrowed his brows when they entered the kitchen and were greeted with the sight of a picnic basket sitting on the counter, a note lying on the top of it.

Jesus immediately made his way to it, and he reached for the note, unfolding it as Daryl stepped over to the cabinet and pulled out two glasses.

"Dear Daryl, and Jesus," Paul began, "These are just some things to help you in your bonding if that's what you choose to do. Don't worry about hiding out for a couple of days; there is no rush despite Rick fussing like a mother hen," Jesus looked up at him and quirked one of his wild brows, he continued after a few moments, "Shout if you need anything, from Aaron and Eric,"

Daryl shrugged, "Don't question it,"

Paul laughed, and opened the picnic basket, "Let's see what we got in here," He said, he began pulling out large amounts of fruit, some eggs, a loaf of homemade bread, containers full of what was undoubtedly Eric's spaghetti, "Okay, so a shit tonne of food, some toiletries, and..." Jesus trailed off as he scrambled to grab the last few items in the box when he lifted them out, he laughed softly, "Three tubes lube and an entire box of condoms,"

Daryl felt his entire face heat up, and he turned away, "Assholes,"

"That does appear to have something to do with it," Jesus replied, mirth in his voice and a grin on his face when Daryl glared at him, "Oh relax, we don't have to do anything with it," He said and placed the condoms and lube back into the picnic basket.

"Wanna pass me the eggs?" Daryl asked, as he pulled out a frying pan from the cupboard and turned the stove, "We'll eat and then shower, could use some hot water" Daryl said, and before he could point out that he meant not together, he turned around and found Jesus looking at him with widened eyes.

"You have hot water?" Jesus asked.

"Yeah, we've got solar panels. They power everything," Daryl replied, and before he could say anything else, Jesus had spun on his heels and was sprinting up the stairs to where he knew a bathroom was. Daryl guessed that the man hadn't had a hot shower in a long time, and he smiled a little fondly as he walked over and grabbed the eggs himself.

 

* * *

  

Twenty minutes later, Daryl was serving out their eggs on toast and listening to the sound of Jesus making his way down the stairs again. He appeared in the kitchen a few moments later, wearing the same clothes he had earlier, but his hair was wet.

Daryl's lips quirked at the sight of him; he looked refreshed, "Enjoy your shower?" He asked as he motioned for Jesus to sit down at the small dining table while he carried the plates over.

"It was fucking glorious," He replied as he sat himself down in the seat, and he immediately began digging into his eggs when Daryl sat them down in front of him, "And these are fucking glorious," He said.

Daryl laughed softly as he grabbed their glasses of water and sat down as well, across from Jesus.

They ate in silence for several minutes, and as Daryl was admiring his soulmate's beard, he remembered what Rick had mentioned when they first came across the man at the gas station.

"So," Daryl said, and Jesus looked up at him expectantly, some egg stuck in said beard, "When we first found you at the gas station, after you ran off, even after you said you didn't have a camp, Rick pointed out that you were clean and your beard was trimmed,"

Jesus smiled a little, "He's an observant one, Rick," He said, "Yes, I lied about not having a community because I was staking you guys out, seeing if you were good or bad. I also had to get my truck back, but trust me, I did not plan on leaving you two at the gas station, I would have taken the truck back to my community, got another car and then came back and talked to you two again, or followed you for a few more days,"

The information swirled around Daryl's brain, and he furrowed his brows, "Your truck? Community? Followed us for a few more days?"

Jesus nodded, and shifted almost uncomfortably, "Yes, it was my truck. I'd been gathering those supplies for over a month and left it in a place that I thought was safe, and then I just happened to spot it at the gas station with you and Rick,"

"So, you weren't stealing it to be an asshole?"

"No. It was mine in the first place,"

"Oh," Daryl replied, and had a mouthful of his water, "What about the other thing, watch us for a few more days?"

Paul had a drink himself before he looked at Daryl again, "Well, I have actually been watching Alexandria the last two or so weeks, seeing if it was a safe community to trade with. I was at that gas station planning on just raiding it, but then I spotted my truck, and then I spotted you and Rick. I recognised you from seeing you around the community, but my priority was that truck. So, I took it first and planned on either finding you and Rick on the road later during the day or coming here to Alexandria to properly introduce myself,"

Daryl nodded as he processed the information, sly bastard, he thought. "Tell me about your community," He said after several moments.

"It's called The Hilltop, and it's about two hours from here. We have trailers and a large historic mansion that used to be a landmark and tourist attraction. There are about sixty residents, but I'm really the only fighter. We have scavengers, but they never go anywhere that I haven't scouted and cleared first. We have animals, cows for milk, chickens for eggs. Our gardens are also very successful; they grow good quality crops. We also have a trained doctor; he was a pediatrician before the outbreak,"

"Sounds about the same size as ours, people wise, a bit bigger maybe," Daryl said, "We'd be stupid not to start trading, can have a meeting with Rick and the others in a couple of days,"

Jesus nodded, "Sounds like a plan," He said with a happy grin.

After eating, Jesus cleaned up while Daryl went and showered. Usually, he didn't give a shit about showering, but now Jesus was around that had changed, he didn't want to be smelling bad and covered in grime around the other man, especially when he looked so clean and smelled so nice.

Just as Daryl was coming out of the bathroom, Jesus was settling down on the bed again, and upon seeing Daryl, he opened his arms wide in invitation, and Daryl couldn't help but crawl into them.


	5. Lips on Lips

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is some cute shit for real

They hadn't gone to sleep at that time, just cuddled a little more and chatted.

Being in Jesus' arms was relaxing, but Daryl's skin was crawling again, and he felt the bond pulling him to Jesus' even though he was already in his arms. He figured that it wasn't enough just laying together.

He sighed after enjoying being in Jesus' arms for a couple more minutes, and then pushed himself up until he was sat on his ass. Jesus looked up at him expectantly, brows furrowed and he immediately looked displeased now that Daryl had moved.

"What's wrong?" He asked, sitting up a little as Daryl stood up from the bed and reached for his boots by the nightstand.

"Need to go have a cigarette; I'll only be a few minutes," He replied softly, balancing himself by holding the headboard of the bed as he pulled his boots onto his big feet.

"I can come? Or do you want a few minutes alone?" Jesus asked.

"A few minutes alone," Daryl replied, and squeezed Jesus' shoulder before he left the bedroom.

 

* * *

 

He ended up on the back porch, cigarette in hand. Though there wasn't much other than Alexandria's wall to look at on the back porch, if he sat out on the front porch, he would inevitably have nosy people coming up to him and asking him how things were going. If Rick showed up, he would probably invade their privacy and begin grilling Jesus.

Daryl was ready for that just yet; he was very much enjoying just having some time with his soulmate. But the crawling in his skin and the pull of their bond hadn't calmed down for long. It had at first, but as the hours progressed, it was clear that more needed to be done for there to be more development in building their bond.

He remained outside for around ten minutes before he put out his cigarette and entered the house again to search for his soulmate.

He at first, made his way straight upstairs, assuming that he was still in the bedroom, but he didn't find him, and he wasn't anywhere else on the second floor of the house.

He eventually found him in the little home theatre the house had, he had taken off his over shirt, the blue zip-up thing, and was just in a plain black tank top and his cargo pants as he sifted through the books on the tall bookcase.

Daryl lost his breath for a second at the sight of him. Jesus had defined back muscles, and strong, muscular arms. He had pulled his hair up into a bun, which exposed a pale neck that had a small heart tattoo, a human heart, not the one created for romance.

Daryl approached him, and Jesus turned to look over his neck when he heard him.

"Hi," Jesus said, and immediately took Daryl in his arms, wrapping one arm around his shoulders and his other around his waist to hold him to him.

Daryl hummed at the contact, "Hi," he said softly and looked down where his hand was one Jesus' forearm, and he began stroking his fingers over the man's soul mark. It was so pretty.

He looked up again when the arm around his shoulders move so Jesus could rest his hand on his jaw. Daryl immediately closed his eyes and sighed in pleasure at the skin on skin contact. It felt so good, and he felt like he was going to melt completely.

He jumped a little in surprise when he felt Jesus' warm breath flutter across his face, and then his warm, and plump lips press against his own.

It barely lasted two seconds before Jesus pulled away again, and Daryl kept his eyes closed as he breathed out of his mouth.

"Is that okay?" Jesus asked softly, his thumb rubbing little circles on Daryl's cheekbones that almost made him go weak in the knees. It was clear that this is what the bond needed.

"Do it again," Daryl said softly.

Jesus did, leaning close again and within seconds, their lips were pressed together again. Jesus' lips were warm against his own, and soft and chapped at the same time. Daryl loved it, and after a few moments, he pressed his own lips back against Jesus.

He started craving to feel more skin, so he moved his so that they rested on Jesus' bare biceps. The hard muscle beneath his hands felt incredible.

After a few moments, Jesus moaned softly as he pressed himself closer to Daryl and slipped his tongue inside of his mouth. Daryl gasped a little at the action, and his mind began to spin with how it felt to have Jesus so close to him, his lips on his and his tongue in his mouth. It made him feel warm and fuzzy, and if someone were to burst inside pointing a gun at them, he wasn't entirely sure if he could do anything about it.

They kissed like that for several long minutes, the kiss growing deeper and more passionate before Jesus tried to take it a step further, the hand that was on his lower back, moving it to Daryl's belt instead and attempting to undo it.

Daryl immediately shrunk away, pulling his mouth away from Paul's perfect one, and moving one of his hand to push Jesus' away from his belt.

Jesus' blue-green eyes blinked open, and he immediately backed off, keeping Daryl in his arms, but their bodies weren't so pressed together, and he respectfully moved his hand to his waist.

Daryl shook his head, "I can't... Not that, not yet," He said, looking down at Jesus' pink soul mark again, unable to look into the man's eyes.

Jesus shushed him softly and pushed some of his hair behind his ears, "It's okay, that's completely okay," He said, and his voice was hoarse, "I got carried away, I'm sorry,"

Daryl shook his head and made himself look at his soulmate again, "You did nothin' wrong," He assured the man, stroking his fingers along the stain on the man's arm that bound them together, "The kissing was fine, better, really fucking good," He awkwardly stuttered, and his cheeks flushed red when Jesus smiled fondly, "I just... I ain't ready for that yet,"

Jesus nodded in understanding, "That's okay, not a problem at all," He said softly, "Do you think we could experiment a little more with kissing and skin on skin? It felt better," He said softly, letting Daryl know that he was also still feeling uncomfortable and needed more for their bond.

Daryl immediately nodded, because that he was fine with. He took Jesus' warm hand in his own, the man's long fingers wrapping around his palm, and the two of them made their way through the house, up the stairs, and back into the bedroom that they had been sharing.

Once in the bedroom, Jesus laid down on the bed, and Daryl pulled off his button up, he like Jesus, had a tank top on as an undershirt. After he had it off, he crawled back onto the bed, and within seconds, the both of them were laying on their sides with their lips pressed together, and caressing each other's arms and shoulders.


	6. Wandering & Meeting

They had five days alone together in total, and by the time there was a heavy knock on their front door, it was becoming obvious that the two soulmates were well on their way to having a completely established bond.

Of course, bonds constantly changed and developed over the time that soulmates spent together, depending on events that occurred in their life, or how much time they spent together. It was no stretch that the same would happen for Daryl and Paul.

All bonds were differed depending on the soulmate pair. The only thing that all soulmates had in common is that once the bond was established, whenever a soulmate touched their mate's soul mark with one of their fingers, the colors of the mark would swirl to the finger. That hadn't happened for Daryl and Paul yet, but they both knew that it wasn't far away.

The two of them were laid out on the couch in the living room of the Alexandria house they had been living in. They were both almost completely naked apart from Paul's black boxers, and Daryl's black tank top and worn green boxers.

Paul groaned when the loud knocking on the heavy wooden door interrupted their quiet time. He lifted his head from where he had it resting on Daryl's chest, and then crawled off his body.

"Suppose we should answer that," Paul said as he stretched his arms above his head.

Daryl's eyes flickered to Paul's bare torso, how his biceps flexed along with his abs.

"Probably," Daryl replied, his lips quirking a little as he looked at Paul.

Paul walked over to the front door just a few meters away and reached for the doorknob.

"You ain't gonna put some clothes on?" Daryl hissed, lifting himself up to rest on his elbows as he looked over at his mate.

Paul looked over his shoulder at him for a second, and then shrugged as he opened the door.

The door being pulled open revealed Rick. Rick's brows immediately raised as he looked Jesus up and down, swallowing thickly before meeting his eyes.

"Hey," Rick greeted him, and then looked over his shoulder, he and Daryl nodded at each other when they met eyes.

"Hi, come in," Paul said and stepped to the side so that Rick could enter the house.

Paul closed the door behind him, and then the two men made their way over to Daryl. Daryl sat back up and pulled a blanket over his lap, feeling a bit exposed in his boxers and tank top. Paul sat down beside him, folding his legs without a care in the world, and Rick sat on the couch opposite them, folding his hands in his lap.

"So," Rick said after a few moments, "How have things been going?" He asked awkwardly, fiddling with his fingers.

Paul gave Daryl a look, "Good," Daryl said simply, shrugging his shoulders and relaxing back into the cushions of the couch.

Paul furrowed his brows at him, and then turned back to Rick, "We've been getting along well. The bond is establishing as it should be," He informed Rick, and Daryl huffed, realizing that that was more the sort of answer Rick had been looking for.

"Well, that's great," Rick said, forcing himself to smile. It was obvious to Daryl that the man still wasn't sure how he felt about Jesus yet, "Everyone is very curious, they want to meet you," He said looking to Paul, "We'd like to have a meeting, me and the others,"

"Sure," Paul said immediately with no hesitancy, while Daryl felt his stomach swirl uncomfortably.

Rick nodded, "Okay, great," He replied, looking at Paul for a moment and then to Daryl, "Is that okay?" he asked.

Daryl shrugged and averted his eyes, "When?" He inquired.

"This afternoon would be ideal, around three at mine and Michonne's place. That way we don't have to juggle any guard shifts,"

"Alright," Daryl answered, and he knew that both men were probably frowning at him.

"Okay, then. I'll see you two in a couple of hours," Rick said and stood himself up from the couch, he even reached forward and held his hand out for Paul to shake, which he did.

"See you then, Rick," Paul said and dropped his hand, Rick then smiled softly at Daryl and proceeded to leave the house.

Daryl closed his eyes for a moment, and then when he opened them, he found Paul had shifted on the couch and was now facing him, a frown on his face. The expression unsettled Daryl, but then Paul reached out and softly cupped his cheek.

"You okay?" Paul asked him, his voice soft.

Daryl sighed heavily, "I dunno…" he replied, closing his eyes again.

"Okay, tell me what's bothering you," Paul said, using the hand that wasn't cupping Daryl's to rub his bare thigh affectionately.

Daryl thought for a few moments, "I just… it's different, me being with someone. I ain't ever been with someone before, and to sit and have a meeting for them to meet you… I don't know, it's just weird for me," He informed his mate, opening his eyes so that he could look into Paul's beautiful blue-green ones.

Paul nodded, smiling sweetly at him, "I understand that, Daryl, I do. I've been with people before, but I've always been somewhat quiet about it at my community, people knew that I was gay and who my boyfriend was, but we weren't exactly public with our relationship. With us being soulmates, things are probably going to be a bit different, and it's going to take some getting used to,"

Daryl nodded at Paul's words and found himself moving forward so he could wrap his arms around Paul's middle and rest his head on his shoulder. He sighed as he got comfortable, smiling when he felt Paul's arms hold him close. He felt himself begin to calm down almost immediately as he settled in Paul's arms, and adjusted his legs so he could get even more skin on skin contact with Paul since he still had a shirt on.

Paul remained holding him, falling back on the couch a little and the two of them took a few moments to adjust their positions so they could lay comfortingly stretched out, and within a few minutes, Daryl had fallen asleep.

 

* * *

 

Daryl held Paul's hand tightly in his own as they walked around the community towards Rick and Michonne's house where the meeting was being held. They had left the house earlier than they needed to so Daryl could give Paul a tour of the community. They had taken longer than expected and were currently running a few minutes late to the meeting, but that didn't stop them from taking their time as they leisurely walked along the street.

"So, Daryl," Paul said, and Daryl looked over at him. He looked so lovely, his long hair was falling freely and fluttering in the breeze, and he had trimmed his beard that morning.

"Yeah?" Daryl replied.

"This morning I mentioned that I used to have a boyfriend back at The Hilltop, I'm surprised you haven't asked about him,"

Daryl shrugged, and though he had been thinking about that, he thought it wasn't really any of his business, "I just figured that you'd tell me if you wanted to, ain't really my business," he replied.

"Well, it is your business considering you'll be seeing a bit of him around The Hilltop and he didn't take our breakup all that well. Besides, if you want to know something you can ask. I'll tell you if I want to, but if I don't, I won't, simple,"

Daryl decided that sounded fair enough, and squeezed Paul's hand a little, he had left his gloves off, and he was grateful for that, "Okay, tell me about it then. Why'd you break up?"

Paul looked over at him, and smile a little, "We just weren't right for each other. We had been together for about six months, and he was deeper in the relationship than I was, he was in love with me, still is, but I wasn't there yet,"

Daryl nodded, screwing his nose up at the mention that whoever the man was, was in love with his mate.

"See, that bothered you," Paul said, and Daryl looked over to find the man looking at him.

Daryl sighed, "I just don't exactly like the idea of someone else bein' in love with you when you're my mate," He answered, and his brows furrowed a little when he saw Paul's lips quirk in a smile, "What?" He grunted.

Paul shook his head, "That's just the first time you've referred to me as your mate. I like it, makes it feel more real,"

A smile pulled at his own lips, "Come on, man," He grunted.

Paul sighed, "One of the reasons I broke up with Alex was because I couldn't ever see myself falling in love with him. He had been in love with me for a few months already when we broke up, and it's only been just over a month since we did break up, so you have to understand that he hasn't had all that much time to get over his feelings,"

Daryl processed Paul's words and decided that Paul's words were true, "Yeah, okay. I can understand that" He said after a few moments, and grinned a little when Paul lifted his hand to his mouth and kiss it, "Do you know why you couldn't love him?"

Paul sighed heavily, "Like I said, we were just such different people. He didn't like how much time I spent outside the walls, he tried to make me feel guilty about it, that I didn't care about him enough to spend time with him. It's not that I didn't want to spend time with him, it was more that I hated being stuck inside the walls, it just wasn't me," He began to explain, looking over at him with a serious expression, "I like scouting for new places, new people. Scavenging for supplies, fighting when needed. That's where my talents lie, that's what I'm good at. Sure, I like to be alone sometimes, but I would have been fine with Alex coming with me, but he wasn't into that idea,"

"He liked being inside of the walls?" Daryl asked for confirmation, looking ahead and spotting Rick and Michonne's home at the end of the street.

Paul nodded, "Yeah. He's the nurse, so it most of his time was spent inside the walls, he'd been at The Hilltop since a few months after the outbreak started, and the walls were already built, so he hasn't seen much of the horrors that can be outside them. He doesn't really want to either,"

"Being the nurse anyway, it's probably better he doesn't leave the walls," Daryl thought aloud.

Paul hummed softly, "Yeah, we couldn't really risk losing him,"

That was the last thing Paul said before they reached Rick and Michonne's house, and Daryl let go of the man's hand as they climbed up the porch steps, and Daryl pushed the door open.

 

* * *

 

Paul followed Daryl down the hallway of the house, through a living room, and towards a doorway where he could hear voices emerging from.

Daryl looked over his shoulder at him, and Paul gave him a soft smile of encouragement as they stepped inside the room.

All faces quickly turned to them, and Paul felt the eyes of everyone fall on him.

He was directed to sit at the head of the table by Daryl, and the man settled leaning up against the wall to his left.

Paul looked at him for a few moments, and then around the rest of the room. He recognized Rick and Abraham, but he hadn't met any of the other people in the room. There was a dark-skinned woman and judging by how the orange and red soul mark on her arm matched the one on the inside of Rick's palm, he knew she must be Michonne. There was a younger boy with an oddly styled haircut, he noticed he looked a bit like Rick, so he wondered if he was his son. At the very end of the table sat a very handsome Asian man, a pretty brunette woman was sat beside him.

"Hi, I'm Jesus," He introduced himself after a few moments, relaxing back into his chair.

Rick looked at him for a few moments, "Jesus," He began, and then held his hand out, "This is my mate Michonne, my son Carl, you've met Abraham, and that's Maggie and her mate Glenn,"

Jesus nodded and sent a smile in the general direction of all of them, "Nice to meet you," He said.

Rick didn't seem to be all that interested in pleasantries, "So, where's your camp?" He asked bluntly.

Paul smirked a little and chewed at the inside of his cheek, "My _community_ is about two hours from here," He replied.

"Your community?" Rick asked, immediately sounding intrigued.

Paul nodded, "Yes, my community, about the size of this one, a few more people than you have though, but there isn't a lot of fighters other than me," He explained, and the mention of his community, made him remember the truck, "Speaking of my community, that truck that you and Daryl stole from me,"

"You stole it from us," Rick replied, his brows furrowed and a deep frown on his face, Paul was immediately ready to jump back in and defend himself, but Daryl beat him to it.

"No, he didn't Rick," Daryl said softly and looked then looked at him, "You said you'd been gathering those supplies for how long?"

"Almost two months," Paul replied, keeping his eyes on Rick, "My community needs those supplies, and I'm not going to give them up, but Daryl's showed me around, and while your arsenal is impressive, your provisions are extremely low for the number of people that you have,"

It went quiet because everyone knew that Paul was speaking the truth.

"What do you suggest then?" Maggie said finally after a few moments, her green eyes boring into his own.

Paul looked at her for a few moments, found her face almost expressionless, which wasn't a bad thing, it showed that she could keep her emotions in check. Paul decided that she might be the best to talk to and have talk to Gregory when they got to The Hilltop, whenever that was.

"Part of my job is to find other settlements, and establish trade with them," He began to explain, "I think that our communities are in a position to help each other, and given mine and Daryl's situation and that we'll be seeing each other quite often, it would simply be ridiculous to not take advantage of that,"

He noticed Daryl shift uncomfortably against the wall and saw that the man had a frown on his face. Paul tried to meet his eyes for a few moments but looked back to Maggie when he didn't succeed.

"Do you have food?" Glenn asked, so Paul looked to him instead.

Paul nodded, "We've started to raise livestock, we scavenge, we grow. Everything from potatoes to sorghum," He answered.

Carl was the one who spoke next, breaking his silence, "Tell us why we should believe you?" He asked, a hard look on his face as he looked at Paul.

Paul smirked a little, deciding that he already liked the kid, "Daryl does. Shouldn't that be enough for you?" He replied, quirking a brow at Carl.

Carl tilted his head slightly and then nodded in agreement.

"Well, Daryl's usual thinking might be a bit impaired at the moment," Abraham said from where he stood behind Glenn, his thick arms folded over his chest.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Daryl hissed, stepping forward from the wall, and only stopping when Rick reached out and placed a hand on Daryl's thigh.

"Daryl, it's okay," Rick said softly, and Paul watched as Daryl listened to him and leaned back against the wall but continued to glare harshly at Abraham.

Paul looked back to Rick, "Tomorrow, we can travel to The Hilltop, be back within in the day, or stay the night, whatever works out best. You can see who we are, and what we have to offer," He said, looking around at everyone for a moment, noticing Maggie appeared to be in thought, "We'll be sorting out the supplies in that truck before we go anywhere though,"

Maggie finally sat forward in her chair and looked at him, "Wait, you're looking for _more_ settlements. You mean you're already trading with other groups?" She asked, and her words immediately had everyone's eyes go back to him and desperately wait for an answer.

He looked over to Daryl, found him looking at him with a similar expression, Paul had mentioned anything to him about the other communities. He tore his eyes from Daryl's, and back to Maggie's.

A smirk spread over his lips, "Your world's about to get a whole lot bigger," He told them, and settled back in his chair.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are loved! Xxx


End file.
